alive.

A big hello to those who pop in from time to time. I am still cooking!

September has been flying by - a new routine finds me at work 40 hours a week, which has drastically reduced my time and energy for meal preparation. We've done well these past weeks, and still manage to keep the majority of our meals consisting of healthy and homemade ingredients.

I have gotten more acquainted with the bread machine lately. I can put a loaf on time and have it hot and ready when we come home. Also more familiar with the crock pot - whipping up honey-mustard lime chicken and a gigantic vat of mixed-bean chili. I didn't have a recipe for the chili, but here's a brief sketch from memory:

4-15oz cans of beans [two six bean blends, one black, one kidney]
two 28-oz cans diced tomatoes with liquid
about 1/4 cup chili powder
mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, diced onion
couple teaspoons reduced sodium beef bouillion
can of tomato sauce (I think!)
4-6 cloves minced garlic
seasoning salt
pepper
extra water to get it to the right consistency

Ken helped me get all the ingredients ready the night before (he is a can opening machine!), and I popped it in the slow cooker on low for 10 hours in the morning. Whipped up a caesar salad, let the fresh bread cool - and viola! I would be sure to have the chili be extra thick when it goes in in the morning, as it gets more soupy as it warms.

I also picked up a wonderful cookbook from the discount bin in the grocery store. I was even more pleasantly surprised when it's $6.99 price tag was incorrect, scoring the sweet find for a mere $3.49. It is conveniently titled "just 10 minutes" and has a large sampling of deliciously healthy, fresh, and varied recipes. While I don't think I am going to be experimenting with duck anytime soon, the lamb burgers and pork meatballs have grabbed my attention. Last night we tried chicken satay, and it was the best three-ingredient recipe I think I may have ever had.

Chicken Satay (from 'just 10 minutes')

Ingredients:

4tbsp smooth peanut butter
heaping 1/3 cup soy sauce [don't ask about the 'heaping', I was confused myself]
4 chicken breasts cut into think strips/chunks

Directions:

Preheat broiler.
Mix peanut butter and soy sauce.
Stir in chicken strips (I skewered mine first, then shook the snot out of them in a marinading container).
Thread chicken onto 4 pre-soaked wooden skewers, broil about 5 minutes each side (I did a little more).
Serve with rice and lemon wedges.

I threw a cooling rack on an old cookie sheet (and sprayed the cooling rack with Pam) - worked like a charm. We ate it with rosemary roast potatoes (toss small cubes of potatoes in olive oil, sprinkle with fresh rosemary, garlic powder, salt, pepper and stir) that I had heated in the microwave for about 6 minutes and stuck in the oven for about 15 minutes on 475 to brown. It was all ready in 20ish minutes. Totally do-able.

Anyways, that's all for now.